Dealing with DNA lesions: When one cell cycle is not enough

Subversion of genome integrity fuels cellular adaptation and is a prerequisite for organismal evolution, yet genomic lesions are also the harmful driving force of cancer and other agerelated human diseases. Genome integrity maintenance is inherently linked to genome organization and nuclear architecture, which are substantially remodeled during the cell cycle. Here we discuss recent findings on how actively dividing cells cope with endogenous genomic lesions that occur frequently at repetitive, heterochromatic, and late replicating regions as byproducts of genome duplication. We discuss how such lesions, rather than being resolved immediately when they occur, are dealt with in subsequent cell cycle phases, and even after mitotic cell division, and how this in turn affects genome organization, stability, and function.

Automated summary

Genomic lesions are both essential for cellular adaptation and organismal evolution, but also pose a harmful risk for cancer and age-related diseases. Actively dividing cells frequently encounter endogenous genomic lesions in repetitive, heterochromatic, and late replicating regions, which are not immediately resolved but instead handled in subsequent cell cycle phases and even after mitotic cell division, which impacts genome organization, stability, and function.